Snow White is just the latest in a string of live-action remake flops, and three Disney movies from a decade ago prove what has gone horribly wrong with this trend. Although Disney has been making live-action remakes of their animated classics for years now, production of these films has ramped up significantly. Multiple remakes are being released per year, but the quality and box office returns are significantly declining. Many are wondering what has changed with Disney’s live-action remakes, and by analyzing three movies from the company’s past, the issues with movies like Snow White can clearly be seen.

2025’s Snow White has been a commercial and critical disappointment for Disney, with this signaling the continued downfall of the company’s live-action remakes. Despite being one of Disney’s most notable movies of the year, Snow White was a box office disappointment, opening with $88.6 million against a budget of around $270 million. The film also hasn’t fared well critically, with Snow White earning a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes. Snow White is among other live-action remake failures like The Lion King, Mulan, and Pinocchio, with it having many viewers asking where things went wrong.

The Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon & Cinderella Are The 3 Top-Rated Disney Live-Action Remakes

& They Are All From Nearly A Decade Ago

Disney’s filmography of live-action remakes has an interesting trend, as the three top-rated live-action remakes are from nearly a decade ago. Based on Rotten Tomatoes data, the highest-rated of Disney’s live-action remakes is the 2016 The Jungle Book remake, which has a critics’ score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. The second highest-rated remake is 2016’s Pete’s Dragon remake, which has a score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. The third highest-rated remake is 2015’s Cinderella, which has a score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Notably, all three of these films are from nine years ago or more, meaning that Disney clearly hasn’t been as consistent in recent years. Before Snow White, the most recent live-action remakes were 2023’s Peter Pan & Wendy and The Little Mermaid, with the former having a Rotten Tomatoes score of 65% and the latter having a Rotten Tomatoes score of 67%. 2022’s Pinocchio is the lowest rated of the remakes on Rotten Tomatoes, with it having 27%. Things start to get better the further back you go, with the trend peaking in 2015 and 2016.

Disney’s 2015 & 2016 Live-Action Remakes Were Praised For Their Visuals

& The Recent Remakes Are Panned For Theirs

The most critically-acclaimed Disney live-action remakes were praised for multiple aspects, but their visuals were one of the most beloved parts. The Jungle Book used hyper-realistic animals like some of the later Disney live-action remakes. However, characters like Baloo and King Louie were still expressive enough to resemble their original counterparts. Meanwhile, Cinderella and Pete’s Dragon managed to blend their realistic visuals with their fantastical worlds, with them finding the right balance of the animated films and the new adaptations.

However, praising the visuals of the live-action remakes is far less common nowadays. Movies like Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, and Lady and the Tramp are downright ugly. The animation on the CGI characters is bad, and they don’t feel like they naturally exist as part of the film’s world. The character designs are uncanny blends of a realistic style and the original animated counterparts, with characters like Honest John and Sebastian looking a bit terrifying.

Meanwhile, the movies that are technically impressive still have visual problems. The Lion King and Mufasa: The Lion King are undoubtedly achievements, with them looking almost like documentaries. However, hyper-realistic lions aren’t all that interesting to look at during a story. Their lack of expressions and grounded nature make some of the musical numbers and emotional beats feel stilted and wrong. The Jungle Book somehow managed to find this balance, which is why its odd that The Lion King couldn’t only a few years later.

Storytelling Continues To Be A Divisive Issue With Disney’s Live-Action Remakes

There Are Either Too Many Changes Or Too Few

Another issue that has plagued the live-action Disney remakes is storytelling. Movies like The Lion King and The Little Mermaid have been criticized for being nothing more than beat-for-beat remakes of the original. These remakes add almost nothing new to the original animated films, meaning that there isn’t much of a reason to watch them. Meanwhile, movies like Mulan that significantly change the original films seem to misunderstand the point of the classic animated movies. The modern remakes either made too few changes, or the changes just aren’t good.

Meanwhile, remakes like The Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon, and Cinderella find balances that are far better. 2015’s Cinderella is essentially another adaptation of the original story rather than a remake, with it mixing some of the iconography from the Disney movie with its own take on the story. Pete’s Dragon is similar, with it being a complete reimagining of the original film. The Jungle Book does fare a bit closer to its animated counterpart, but it does a lot to modernize the film’s story and characters, with it feeling like a new take rather than a beat-for-beat retelling.

What Disney Can Learn From Snow White & Other Recent Live-Action Remakes

Can It Save The Future Movies?

If Disney ever wants to get back on the right track, it needs to learn from Snow White and the other recent failed remakes. Firstly, the studio needs to put more time and effort into the remakes. Despite having bloated budgets, the recent movies still look pretty ugly. An over-reliance on CGI and attempts to closely stick to the visuals of the original movies has led the recent remakes to feel like nothing more than really ugly versions of their animated counterparts. These older remakes weren’t scared to try something new visually, and future remakes can’t be afraid either.

Disney also needs to focus more on movies that would naturally work in live-action. Movies like The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Lady and the Tramp, and Lilo & Sтιтch require so much CGI that there isn’t much of a point in making them live-action. There was a reason that these movies were originally created as animated films. Movies like The Sword in the Stone and Atlantis: The Lost Empire could work as live-action remakes, as they mostly focus on humans in locations that can be practically filmed. However, these franchises may not be as well-known as The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, or Snow White.